Canadian apple production fell to a 13-year low in 2025

Marketable apple production in Canada fell 10.8% in 2025 to 340,620 metric tonnes, its lowest level since 2012, Statistics Canada reported on 22 October. Commercial apple growing takes place in every province, but production is concentrated in Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia. Together those four provinces accounted for 98.5% of national marketable production in 2025.

The declines were broad across the main producing regions. Nova Scotia’s output fell 15.0% to 31,725 tonnes after drought conditions during the summer. Quebec production declined 12.0% to 103,251 tonnes, while Ontario fell 8.2% to 147,977 tonnes. British Columbia’s production was down 13.7% to 52,411 tonnes, marking its sixth consecutive annual decline and a record low for that province.

The agency’s comparison also puts British Columbia’s 2025 production 58.3% below the provincial record set in 2006. While the source identifies summer drought as a factor in Nova Scotia, it does not assign a single cause to the national decline or quantify how much each province’s result contributed to the countrywide change. The provincial figures show the scale and geographic distribution of the annual reduction.

Apples remained Canada’s second most important fruit by sales in 2025, behind blueberries. A separate Statistics Canada food-availability series, cited in the release, estimates that apple availability fell from 8.45 kilograms per person in 2024 to 8.27 kilograms in 2025. That measure estimates the amount physically available for consumption in the country; it is not a direct measure of purchases, dietary intake or the amount consumed by each person.

For a longer comparison, the agency reported that per-person apple availability reached 13.95 kilograms in 1994, a record in that series. It also said apple prices increased 27.9% over the five-year period from September 2021 to September 2026. Production, availability and consumer prices measure different parts of the market, so the production decline alone does not establish why prices changed or how much of the increase reflects domestic supply.

The 2025 result is an annual production observation, not a forecast for the next harvest. Statistics Canada’s report distinguishes marketable output from the wider fact that apples are grown across the country: the national total is heavily shaped by results in four provinces. The release offers a data point for producers and food-market readers, while leaving weather, acreage, yields, storage, imports and other influences to be evaluated separately rather than attributing the movement to one cause.

The production series therefore describes harvested marketable output; it does not by itself measure orchard acreage, yields or the volume available to consumers.